


A New Adventure

by amythestice



Series: Cardcaptor AU [2]
Category: Cardcaptor Sakura, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-29 01:17:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11430159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amythestice/pseuds/amythestice
Summary: The Kinomoto family is getting settled into their new home in England, number 6 Privet Drive. Then an owl comes that doesn't just change things for Sakura.





	A New Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> Some lines hoiked out of the books.

Touya sat at the kitchen table, going through the paperwork that he and Yukito would need to turn in to the college they had been accepted into in the next couple of weeks if they wanted to take up their places for the first term. It was a pain, but they still had it easier than his father, who was finding trying to place Sakura a bit of a nightmare.

The school that he had chosen, and that had accepted her before they left Japan, had fallen through and there weren’t a lot of other choices nearby that were up to the education standards they expected.

He heard a soft thud, and sighed, assuming Kero had knocked something over, given that he otherwise had the house to himself at the moment. Yukito and Sakura had gone shopping for dinner, and to explore the environs of the small English town a little, and Fujitaka had gone off to the University where he would be taking over as head of the archaeology department from this year to pick up some papers he needed.

He put his pen down and rose, going through into the sitting room, everything looked in place, but Kero had his nose pressed to the window.

“What was that thud?” he asked, eyeing the small guardian form suspiciously.

“An owl just flew into the ward over the window, it’s stunned itself and is now lying in the garden. You might want to go and grab it before that old lady’s weird looking cats get it,” Kero replied, gesturing to the window that had been opened for air, but warded to prevent anything getting in.

“Why the hell is an owl flying around during the day, let alone trying to fly in through people’s windows?” Touya muttered, hurrying out to grab the stunned bird, and giving the strange looking cat that was prowling toward it a hard look. He knew those cats were some kind of magical animal, but he had no idea what they could be.

Bringing the bird back inside, he shoved his paperwork aside on the table and asked Kero to grab him a towel from the bathroom cabinet, which he gently set the bird on. It had a pair of letters attached to its leg, and he raised an eyebrow as he gently untied them, glancing at the addresses on the front of the heavy, old fashioned parchment.

Miss S. Kinomoto

The pink room

6 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

 

And the second was for next door, obviously the owl had tried to deliver here first and the run in with the wards meant the other letter hadn’t been delivered.

 

Mr. H. Potter

The Cupboard under the Stairs

4 Privet Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

 

There was an unfamiliar crest on the back, and he could sense magic faintly around them, western magic, he thought.

“Huh,” he muttered, putting them aside for now and focusing on making sure that the bird hadn’t suffered any serious harm from flying into his wards.

“Nothing broken, it will be fine,” he said, finally finishing with the owl and finding a box and a warm dark corner for it to recover in before watching Kero, who was eyeing the letter the owl had been carrying narrowly.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Eh, maybe nothing, but I know that crest. Clow used to correspond with them, I think he went to school there. This time of year, and addressed to Sakura, _that_ is more than likely an invitation,” he said.

“An invitation to what?”

“Attend their boarding school. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Not sure how it works, but they have some way of tracking who has enough magic to attend.”

Touya narrowed his eyes, not at all sure that he liked the thought of a strange bunch of _wizards_ and _witches_ tracking his little sister’s budding magic.

“If it helps any, I think Clow actually rather enjoyed going to school there.”

Touya gave him a non-committal grunt, they knew his misgivings about Clow, and the way he had treated his creations, locking them away without warning in the book. Most of the card spirits had been distressed to awaken and find themselves ‘orphaned’ with someone unknown trying to take mastery of them, it had made some of the gentler cards act against their natures to try to evade capture, and even now they were still upset that they had tried to hurt him, no matter how many times he, Yuki, Yue and Kero told them that he really did understand and had never blamed them.

“Are you going to let her go?” Kero asked curiously.

“Why do you think it would be up to me? Father is looking for Sakura’s school,” Touya frowned.

“Yeah, and this is about magic, and you _know_ he defers to you there,” Kero pointed out.

Touya sighed, knowing it was true, since he had come clean to his father that yes, magic was very real, yes Touya was a powerful sorcerer, and oh by the way Sakura’s magic was developing too, he had left anything regarding that to Touya.

“I don’t know what will come of it, this is an educational issue too you know, and Sakura may not even want to go,” but even as he said it, a wash of precognition told him that Sakura would be going to this school, and he also caught a fleeting flash of the dark-haired kid from next door.

He looked again at the second letter his eyes narrowing and darkening, the letter was addressed to a cupboard under the stairs, and Sakura’s had been addressed to her bedroom, the room magic would see as _her_ space, so it was likely that was what magic saw as the boy’s space. He knew the layouts of these houses would likely be more or less the same, and the cupboard under the stairs was tiny, he wouldn’t put an animal in there never mind a child.

“We’re home,” his father’s voice called, and Touya looked up, startled that they had all come in together, he hadn’t really been sensing for them, so focused had he been on this.

“What’s wrong?” Fujitaka asked, seeing the dark anger in Touya’s eyes, he came to where his son was sitting as Yukito and Sakura began putting the groceries away.

“We need to talk, all of us,” Touya said quietly, tapping the two letters he held against the table.

Yukito and Sakura quickly put away the items that needed to go in the refrigerator, and came over to join them at the table, sitting down.

Touya laid the two envelopes on the table, side by side, and Sakura reached for the one with her name on it, and Touya put one hand out to stop her.

“Not yet,” he said.

“But it’s mine, addressed to me,” she complained.

“Yes, it is, but look at _how_ it is addressed.”

“To my room, who would know that?” she asked, pulling her hand back.

“Magic would, your magic is marking that room as yours. Now look at the other letter.”

Fujitaka took a deep breath as he read the address on the second letter.

“Is that the boy you said you felt was being mistreated?”

“I think so, yes. His was definitely the face I saw in a precognitive flash. Magic sees that space as his space.”

“How did you get this?”

“An owl flew into my ward over the front window and stunned itself, it was carrying both letters, if it had delivered there first…” he sighed, shaking his head.

“What are they anyway?”

“Kero thinks an invitation to a school for witches and wizards, a boarding school.”

“Really?” Sakura asked, her eyes lighting up, only really hearing the first part, she really wanted to learn how to use her magic, but it was enough unlike Touya’s that her brother couldn’t teach her more than basic control to stop it getting out of hand when she got upset.

“Do you think that is why they are mistreating the boy?” Fujitaka asked, knowing that his own response to the revelation of magic had been atypical, and even he was still vaguely uncomfortable with the idea.

“It probably has something to do with it, yes. I…,” he frowned, shaking his head as his fingers rested on the letter addressed to the cupboard.

“If I pass this letter to him, it will start a chain of events in motion that will be bad for him, if I don’t pass this letter to him, the chain will still start, but there are more paths, more options, I can’t tell which would be better,” he said softly, his eyes going distant, unfocused.

“Well, I suggest the first thing we do is see what Sakura’s letter says, if it is an invitation to a boarding school, and both letters are likely the same, then at least that would get him away from them for the school year,” Fujitaka said.

“It will be, all of the invitations and exam results are sent out at this time of year, and I don’t think the young man next door is old enough for it to be his exam results,” Yue said, finally chiming into the conversation without bothering to take total control from his human aspect.

Touya nodded and Sakura eagerly picked up her letter, tearing it open and pulling the parchments out, the first one was short and to the point;

 

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

 

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

 

Dear Ms. Kinomoto,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at [Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Hogwarts_School_of_Witchcraft_and_Wizardry). Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on [1 September](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/1_September). We await your owl by no later than [31 July](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/31_July).

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

The second page was a little more eyebrow raising, especially given the lack of more usual educational books in the lists.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL _of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

UNIFORM

First-year students will require:

 

  1. Three sets of plain work [robes](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Robes) (black)
  2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
  3. One pair of protective gloves ([dragon](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon) hide or similar)
  4. One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)



Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

 

COURSE BOOKS

All students should have a copy of each of the following:

 

[ _The Standard Book of Spells_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/The_Standard_Book_of_Spells) _(Grade 1)_ _by_[ _Miranda Goshawk_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Miranda_Goshawk)

[ _A History of Magic_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/A_History_of_Magic) _by_[ _Bathilda Bagshot_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Bathilda_Bagshot)

[ _Magical Theory_ ](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Magical_Theory) _by_ [ _Adalbert Waffling_ ](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Adalbert_Waffling)

[_A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/A_Beginner%27s_Guide_to_Transfiguration) _by_[ _Emeric Switch_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Emeric_Switch)

[ _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/One_Thousand_Magical_Herbs_and_Fungi) _by_[ _Phyllida Spore_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Phyllida_Spore)

[ _Magical Drafts and Potions_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Magical_Drafts_and_Potions) _by_[ _Arsenius Jigger_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Arsenius_Jigger)

[ _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Fantastic_Beasts_and_Where_to_Find_Them) _by_[ _Newt Scamander_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Newton_Scamander)

[ _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/The_Dark_Forces:_A_Guide_to_Self-Protection) _by_[ _Quentin Trimble_](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Quentin_Trimble)

 

OTHER EQUIPMENT

 

1 [wand](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Wand)

1 [cauldron](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Cauldron) (pewter, standard size 2)

1 set glass or crystal phials

1 [telescope](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Telescope)

1 set [brass scales](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Brass_scales)

Students may also bring, if they desire, an [owl](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Owl) OR a [cat](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Cat) OR a [toad](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Toad).

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS

ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK

[Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Lucinda_Thomsonicle-Pocus)

[Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Chief_Attendant_of_Witchcraft_Provisions)

 

“Can I go there? You haven’t been able to find a school for me anyway, and I really want to learn magic,” Sakura said.

“It doesn’t say anything about provisions for basic subjects like math or English, no sciences, no music, no PT,” Touya pointed out.

“We would need more information, the letter doesn’t really go into enough detail, although I’m not sure how we would go about getting more detail,” Fujitaka said.

“We could always ask,” Touya said.

“Ask who?”

Touya tapped the first page of the letter, signed by the deputy headmistress.

“If we ask her to send someone to give us more information, we can get ask for the information we need, and maybe get them to do something for the kid next door too. “

Touya left his father to write a request for someone to come and speak with them while he went to check on the owl. It had apparently recovered its senses, and hopped out of the box to perch on the back of a kitchen chair when he took the lid off.

“So…” Touya said, looking at it blankly, it stared back for a long moment before starting to preen its feathers.

“As I recall, post owls are accustomed to being handled, he will allow you to attach the letter, when it is ready,” Yue told him, finally coming fully forward and reaching out to pet the owl, which seemed to thoroughly enjoy the attention.

Touya snorted and went to finish putting the groceries away for something to do with his hands, he was joined a moment later by Yue.

“We’ll find a way to help that boy if he needs it, even if whoever comes from Hogwarts can’t,” Yue told him, wrapping his arms around Touya from behind.

“I know, I just hate the thought of anyone being mistreated by people who are _supposed_ to care. A cupboard Yue, probably exactly the same size as the cupboard under our stairs there,” he sighed.

/x/

The rest of the day passed quietly after they had sent the owl off, once Yue had convinced it that it didn’t need to complete its original task and deliver the letter to number 4, that is. Touya finished off the paperwork he had been working on, Fujitaka had gone off into his study to do the paperwork he had gone to get, and Sakura had disappeared up into her room to write to Tomoyo. They had just finished putting the dishes away after dinner when there was a firm knock at the door and Fujitaka moved to open it, finding a stern-faced woman in a long black dress with tartan accents standing there.

“Mr Kinomoto?” she asked.

“Yes?”

“My name is Minerva McGonagall, deputy headmistress of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, you requested more information on the invitation that was sent to your daughter to attend our school.”

“Yes, please come in,” he said, stepping back. He handed her a new pair of guest slippers and showed her where she could leave her shoes, raising an eyebrow as she unlaced her boots with a flick of the stick she pulled from her sleeve, he had never seen Touya use magic so… _pointlessly._

Bringing her through, he found that one of the boys had already prepared tea, setting up the service on the low table in the sitting room.

“Would you care for tea?” he asked.

“That would be lovely, thank you.”

Sakura served her first, then handed tea to her father before pouring her own as both Touya and Yuki had declined.

“First, I must apologize, I have no idea how Miss Kinomoto’ s letter got in with the letters meant for owl delivery, instead of with the rest of the muggleborn letters, which would have been delivered by hand by a professor who would have been able to explain things to you straight away.”

“I’m sorry, muggleborn?” Fujitaka queried.

“A witch or wizard born into a family with no magic, who are not aware of the wizarding world.”

“Ah,” Fujitaka nodded, adding nothing, if his son wanted her to know he was not _muggle_ he would tell her so himself.

“Perhaps it had to do with the second letter that the owl was carrying, for the house next door, when it knocked itself out trying to fly in through our window,” Touya said, holding up the second envelope.

McGonagall’s eyes scanned the address automatically, then again more slowly.

“I see,” she said, her lips pressing more tightly together at the implication of the address.

“If it is the boy I think it is, he is painfully thin, always dressed in outsized, ragged clothing and often bruised. I have also seen him outside from morning until night on scorching days, tending the garden with no respite,” Touya told her.

“Did you attempt to pass the letter on?”

“No, not yet. I didn’t know who it would be best to speak to with my concerns regarding the boy, as I asked him once if he needed me to tell someone he was mistreated and he told me that there was no point, it would only make things worse,” Touya said bluntly.

“You never told me that,” Fujitaka said, startled.

“Would there have been any point without proof?” he shrugged.

“Well, I shall go there next and hand deliver that personally,” she said, holding her hand out for the letter.

“Why not save yourself having the same conversation twice, it is a nice evening outside, you could ask them to join us in our garden and speak to us and them at the same time?” Fujitaka suggested, gesturing to the back of the house.

She hesitated, and then nodded briskly, she had a feeling the dreadful Dursleys would be much less likely to put up a fuss in front of neighbours.

“Stirling idea, if you would excuse me for a few moments.”

“Of course.”

Fifteen minutes later she was back with the Dursleys trying to look normal and genial in front of the new neighbours, and a terrified looking Harry trailing behind them. Fujitaka lead them around the side of the house into the garden to avoid the messing around with shoes and slippers.

“You have a lovely garden,” Petunia commented, he ignored the faintly sour tone and smiled innocently.

“The boys did all the work out here,” he told her, although he did suspect that Touya had let a couple of the card spirits out to play too, some of the planting was a little too well established, given they had only been here just over a month.

After everyone had found a seat on the garden furniture, or the low walls surrounding the flower beds, and introductions had been made, Yukito served everyone some ice-cold lemonade and sat down beside Harry, which not so coincidentally bracketed Sakura and Harry between himself and Touya.

“Well now, shall we get down to it. Both Ms Kinomoto and Mr Potter have received acceptance letters to Hogwarts, the premier magical school in the United Kingdom, Mrs Dursley, I know you are aware of most of this, due to your sister attending the school, but I thought it best if Mr Potter hear it as if he knew nothing of magic, as I have no idea what you might have been able to share with him.”

Touya tensed, feeling a flare of absolute _hate_ from all of the Dursleys at the very mention of magic and the woman’s sister. Very much anti-magic then, he thought, surprised they had managed to keep it from showing so clearly on their faces.

“There’s no such thing as magic,” Harry whispered, too softly for the adults at the table to hear, but Sakura, Touya and Yukito caught it.

“Yes, there is,” Sakura whispered, catching his shaking hand in hers and squeezing it gently.

“We’re not paying for him to go to that fr…school, we can’t afford to send him off to some posh school, or pay for all of the rubbish listed in that letter,” Vernon spluttered.

“Well, luckily that won’t be an issue, Mr Potter’s school fees and equipment lists are already covered for the full seven years, and with him out of the house for ten months of the year, he will be much less of a drain on your resources,” McGonagall said with a cat-like smile.

She spent the next forty-five minutes explaining about the school, the classes and anything else she thought they would need to know, and then waited to see if they had any questions.

“You haven’t said anything about basic educational classes, the standards that they would need to get on in their lives after they are out of school. What about maths lessons, English, reading, writing, science, chemistry?” Touya asked.

“We don’t teach any of those, there is no real need for them in our world.”

“And if a student wishes to work, or travel, or further their education outside of your world, after they complete their education at your establishment? You are basically going to be sending out hundreds of barely literate students who are almost completely reliant on magic to do anything,” he pointed out.

“I want to go, onii-chan,” Sakura hissed, kicking him in the ankle.

“And your plans to go to university? How many do you think will be willing to take you with no usable qualifications, no exam results that you can show them?”

“Well, perhaps Sakura, and Mr Potter too if he wishes, could do some extra studying in those subjects, and we could arrange exams for them during the summer time,” Fujitaka suggested.

Touya looked over the younger one’s heads at Yukito, who shrugged faintly.

“Science would be out, if there was no one to monitor them, but potions sound like a reasonable facsimile for chemistry, and if we provided books, assignments could be sent by mail. We could even go and tutor them every other weekend or so to make sure they didn’t run into problems,” Yukito offered.

“Please,” Sakura begged, looking up at her brother with big, pleading eyes.

Minerva wondered why everyone was looking to the young man for permission instead of the father, the dynamic here was very strange for a muggle home.

“You’d have to be willing to work hard, no slacking in any of the subjects,” Touya pointed out, and Sakura grinned, knowing he was going to agree to it.

“I will, I promise,” she said eagerly.

“I would too, if it’s really alright for me to join in,” Harry said timidly, deciding to just go with this if it could get him away from the Dursleys for most of the year.

“Very well, how do we go about filling the supply list?” Touya asked.

“If you have nothing planned, then I will arrive at 9am tomorrow to escort Ms Kinomoto and Mr Potter to Diagon Alley to purchase their school supplies.”

“Yukito and I will accompany you,” Touya told her, and seeing that she was about to protest, he raised an eyebrow at her.

“Unless you are going to take them for their school equipment and books every year, we are going to need to know,” he pointed out, and she nodded her agreement.

/x/

Dumbledore was in his office, meeting with Severus about Harry Potter’s impending arrival at Hogwarts, it was a delicate balance of trying to appear supportive, while at the same time subtly manipulate the dour man to be antagonistic toward the child. He needed to make sure that there was no way the man would be too protective of the boy, or the tests he had planned for him would never work, Severus would never allow him to go through them, he needed his protection of Harry to be grudging, not willing.

That was derailed when Minerva came storming into his office, her eyes flashing.

“Ah Minerva, there you are,” he twinkled.

“I warned you Albus, I warned you when you left little Harry there that they were the worst sort of muggles,” she hissed, glowering at him.

“Mr Potter? I thought you were going to speak to the family of the muggleborn with the unusual name,” Albus asked, alarmed.

“Yes, and she happens to live next door to the Dursley house, and they had Mr Potter’s letter as well as hers,” she snapped slapping the envelope she had kept down on the edge of the desk, where Severus picked it up and looked at it before Dumbledore could get hold of it.

“You left Lily’s child with that evil tongued _bitch_ Petunia?” he demanded, looking at the address.

“They were his last living family, and it was the best place to leave him to keep him out of the eye of the wizarding world. I’m sure they have loved him as Lily and James would have wanted them to.”

“Potter hated them as much as they hated Potter, Lily and anything else remotely magical, you could have left the boy to be raised by wolves and it would have been better than giving him to them,” Severus sneered.

“A cupboard, Albus, his letter is addressed to a cupboard, he’s horribly short for his age, skinny as a rake while that cousin of his is like a beached whale, and he was dressed in rags and had bruises,” she said, snatching the envelope from Severus and waving it in the headmaster’s face.

“I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding Minerva.”

“Albus, I did not misunderstand the bruises, or the fear in his eyes when he looked at his _family_ , they even tried to say they wouldn’t allow him to come here,” she huffed.

That got his attention, he couldn’t have that, he needed the boy here where he could shape him, guide him to his destiny.

“Did you persuade them?”

“They couldn’t protest too much in front of the Kinomoto family, I will be going back tomorrow to take Mr Potter and Ms Kinomoto to Diagon Alley for their school supplies.”

Dumbledore wasn’t pleased by that, he had intended to engineer it so that Hagrid would take him for his supplies, Hagrid would extol the virtues of Gryffindor, and tell him how bad Slytherin was, and he had intended for Hagrid to lay the first clues to the test he had planned, but he couldn’t object to Minerva taking the child for his shopping, it was meant to be a head of house, or at the very least a professor that performed the duty.

“And now for the second thing, Ms Kinomoto and Mr Potter will be receiving tutoring in what her brother called ‘standard subjects’, it will mainly be done using mail, but you will need to make arrangements for their tutors to be able to get here every other weekend.”

“I’m afraid that cannot be permitted Minerva, it wouldn’t be fair on the other students, to have them allowed special privileges.”

“I don’t see why not, it isn’t a privilege, it is education. Perhaps if other students complain to their parents, I wouldn’t waste half of my time trying to figure out what the dunderheads are trying to convey in their essays, because they will be pressed to do something about it. As long as the tutoring is in their own time, and not cutting into lesson time, there should be no reason to protest it,” Severus said, he always liked when he could side with Minerva to make the meddling old man’s life difficult. If the Potter boy was filling his time with extra studies, he couldn’t get into all sorts of trouble.

“I will arrange a classroom for them to use, you will arrange a portkey or floo access for them,” she told Albus firmly.

“Why can’t they apparate to Hogsmead?” Albus asked.

“Because they’re muggles, Albus.”

Dumbledore stopped objecting, muggles were no threat to his plans, and he might even be able to use them, as it seemed Harry was going to already have the Kinomoto girl as a friend when he came to school.

“Arrange the classroom, I will arrange a portkey to take them directly to it, save the risk of them getting hurt in the corridors.”

“Good, and will you also be looking for somewhere else to place Mr Potter from here on?”

“Alas Minerva, they are still his only family, and he needs the wards present there for protection from Voldemort’s servants.”

“Albus, they are abusing him, who or what is to protect him from his family?”

“Really Minerva, I am sure you are mistaken, the bruises are probably from rough housing with his cousin, if the boy is indeed bigger than him, and if he is in second hand clothing, then clearly I need to increase their allowance.”

“Don’t you dare Albus, it’s despicable enough that you are apparently paying them at all to treat him like that, but you will _not_ reward them by increasing that payment. I will be calling in both the Wizarding Child Services and the muggle Social Services to consider the home situation, and if they agree that I am misunderstanding the situation, then I will back off, but if they find a problem Albus, you _will_ find an alternative.”

“Very well,” he sighed, giving her a betrayed look, he wasn’t really bothered by the threat, he had people in the WCS department, and they could deal with the muggle investigation, but he was going to have to call in favours, and he hated that.

“He gave in too easily,” Severus commented as they walked down the corridor fifteen minutes later.

“I know, but hopefully, even if he does pull something to make it difficult to remove Mr Potter from his family, their awareness that the neighbours are watching them will deter them from further _misunderstandings._ ”

/x/

Minerva arrived at number 6 Privet drive precisely at 9am the next morning and rang the bell. The door was opened by the taller of the young men, who stepped back.

“Please come in, Harry is just finishing his breakfast,” the dark eyed young man said, gesturing her inside.

Minerva chose not to comment on the fact Harry was eating here, instead of at home, and stepped inside, changing her boots for the offered slippers again.

Harry was sitting at the table, just clearing the last of the food off his plate as she took the offered cup of tea. He was still wearing outsized clothes, but they were less ragged than the ones he had been in the day before, and she suspected she was right, the Dursley’s were leery of the new neighbours seeing them as anything other than ‘normal’.

“While we are waiting, I have this for you,” she said, pulling out a knotted length of rope.

“This is a portkey, on the days you are to come to the school to tutor Ms Kinomoto and Mr Potter, it will bring you directly to the classroom that has been set aside. It is password activated, so there is no risk of it going off any other time, and once you are done, it will return you here, again, by password. The headmaster does ask that you keep the password strictly between the two of you, as the portkey had to be created to allow for muggle use, it would be unfortunate and dangerous if any other muggle were to get their hands on it,” she said, handing it over with a folded slip of parchment.

Touya glanced at the password on the parchment, committing it to memory before handing it to Yukito to do the same.

“Thank you, we will make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands,” Touya nodded, glancing over as Sakura came thundering down the stairs with her jacket and a backpack in her hand.

“Oi, Kaijuu, don’t shake the house down,” he chided.

“Don’t call me that,” she growled, kicking him in the ankle as she passed him, putting her things down.

Touya narrowed his eyes, not so much at the kick, he was used to that, but at the fact he could sense Kero in her bag, she sent him a pleading look, Kero had been on at her since she got up this morning to take him along on the shopping trip, he sighed imperceptibly and shrugged, he didn’t mind Kero tagging along, he just would have preferred it if they had asked him first. He was actually contemplating asking Kero to go with Sakura when she went to this school, he would be much happier with someone watching out for her, and Kero could summon him immediately if there was a problem.

Harry finished eating and stood up, looking uncomfortable again as Yukito picked up the empty plate and took it to the sink.

“I can wash that,” he said.

“You and Sakura get ready to go, it will only take me a moment,” Yukito said with a gentle smile.

Ten minutes later they were out of the house.

“Now, we are going to Charing Cross road, in London, you can get there using muggle means of course, there is a train station there. Once your sister and Harry have their wands, there is also the means we will be using today, the Knight bus, it requires a wand to summon it,” she explained, pulling her wand and holding it out.

With a bang, a large purple bus arrived, standing incongruously in the middle of the road.

“How do people not notice that?” Harry asked curiously.

“It is under spells, like much of the magical world, muggles cannot see it unless they know about it. All aboard,” she chivvied them.

“Leaky Cauldron,” she told Stan, handing him the appropriate coins before he could go into his spiel, she didn’t need to hear it.

“I suggest you hold on tightly, the first trip can be…unnerving,” Minerva said, sitting down and holding onto the back of the seat in front of her. The others followed her example, and with another sharp bang, the bus was off, flinging itself wildly through the traffic, heading for London.

“Well, that was…” Touya trailed off, unsure how to finish the statement politely, he didn’t think Madame McGonagall would appreciate him questioning the sanity of wizard kind.

“Interesting?” Yukito offered with a sharp-edged smile, Yue’s smile.

“Yes, interesting,” Touya agreed.

“You get used to it, now, we need to go through the Leaky Cauldron to get to the alley, if you concentrate between the two storefronts here, you should be able to see it.”

A few minutes later they were through the dingy pub, and out in the yard, where McGonagall tapped the bricks with her wand to open the way to the alley.

“If you get stuck, or don’t remember which bricks to tap, Tom, the owner, or one of the customers will help you out,” she told them, leading the way through into the alley.

Harry and Sakura looked around in wide eyed awe, she expected the same from the two muggle boys accompanying them, but she saw watchful expressions instead, assessing the people around them for potential threats.

“We’ll have to go to the bank first, to retrieve money from Mr Potter’s vault for his supplies, and for you to exchange muggle money for Ms Kinomoto’s. This way,” she said, leading the way briskly through the crowds of other shoppers.

“I have a vault there,” Yue told Touya quietly, Yukito’s eyes lightening to indicate he was speaking directly.

“Father left money, we’ll exchange it. I’m very leery of correcting their misconceptions about our ‘muggleness’ until we have to.”

Yue nodded fractionally, withdrawing again to allow Yukito’s eyes to return to their normal colour.

In the lobby of the bank, they joined one of the teller lines, Sakura and Harry looking around in wide eyed fascination while the line slowly shuffled forward.

“Mr Potter needs to make a withdrawal from his school vault,” she told the Goblin at the desk, placing the key atop the desk before he could demand it.

“Griphook,” he grunted, waving another Goblin forward.

“We need to make an exchange,” Touya said, stepping up to the desk after Harry and McGonagall had been escorted off to go down into the vaults.

The Goblin looked up, and counted the muggle money that Touya put on the counter.

“You get a better exchange rate if you open a vault,” he counselled, recognizing that the young man was a powerful sorcerer, accompanied by a magical being and a young witch.

Touya hesitated, his eyes flicking in the direction McGonagall and Harry had gone.

“It isn’t unknown for us to make the same recommendation to muggles,” the Goblin said honestly, it wasn’t unknown, just rare.

“All right, thank you. It will make it easier to do Sakura’s school shopping from here on.”

By the time a dazed looking Harry came back with McGonagall, they had opened the vault, made their exchange minus the minimum deposit to open the vault, and were waiting near the exit.

“Are you ok Harry?” Touya asked in concern.

“Yes, fine, thank you, it was just…unexpected, they’ve told me for years that my parents were a worthless, penniless drain on society, just like I was a drain on them, but my school vault…”

Minerva’s lips pressed together, she was more determined than ever to get Harry’s home life looked into. He needed to be away from the despicable excuse for a family Albus had abandoned him to.

“Don’t worry about it Mr Potter, you will be at school soon, and out of their reach for much of the year,” she said bracingly.

“I guess,” he sighed.

“Come, we have much to do, and little time to do it in,” she told them, turning to step out once more into the alley.

They got through the shopping efficiently, leaving wands until last. Touya felt a psychic tug as they approached the shop, and paused.

“Go ahead, I’ll catch you up,” he told them, turning to look down the alley.

“Toya?” Yukito queried his lover.

“Something…it’s fine, go ahead, I won’t be long,” he said, vanishing into the mass of shoppers.

“Where is he going?” Minerva asked.

“No idea, he’ll be fine, he’ll catch up with us.”

“It really isn’t wise for unaccompanied muggles to roam the alley when they are unfamiliar with it. There are dangers here that are not immediately obvious.”

“He’ll be fine, we should proceed, he won’t be long,” Yukito said again with a cheerful smile, he pitied anything that tried to go after Touya magically or physically.

“Very well,” she said, leading the way to Ollivander’s wand shop.

Ollivander popped out from the back of the shop when they entered, pale eyes flicking over the small group curiously.

“Ah, professor McGonagall, and Mr Potter, is it really that time already? And who have we here, you don’t have the look of any family I am familiar with young miss.”

“Ms Kinomoto’s family are from Japan Ollivander,” Minerva told him a touch impatiently, he was an excellent wand maker, and good at pairing people with their wands, but his airiness was sometimes frustrating.

“Hmm, I will have to give that match some thought then, Mr Potter first,” he said, flourishing his tape measure.

The first selections of wands were summarily rejected, and Ollivander looked at him thoughtfully, before heading back into the rear of the shop, muttering as he went.

“Tricky customer, eh? Not to worry, we’ll find the perfect match here somewhere – I wonder, now – yes, why not – unusual combination – holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple.”

Harry took the wand. He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers. He raised the wand above his head, brought it swishing down through the dusty air and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like a firework, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls.

“Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well ... how curious ... how very curious ...” Ollivander murmured.

He put Harry’s wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown paper, still muttering.

“Curious ... curious ...”

“Sorry, but what’s curious?” Harry asked nervously.

Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.

“I remember every wand I’ve ever sold, Mr Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather – just one other. It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this wand when its brother – why, its brother gave you that scar.”

Harry swallowed.

“Yes, thirteen and a half inches. Yew. Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember ... I think we must expect great things from you, Mr Potter ... After all, He Who Must Not Be Named did great things – terrible, yes, but great.”

Harry shivered. He wasn’t sure he liked Mr Ollivander too much.

“Oh really Garrick, you’re scaring the children, do please restrain yourself,” Minerva chided him.

Ollivander cleared his throat, chastened, and nodded apologetically, seeing the two pale faces in front of him.

“Of course, forgive me getting carried away, now young lady, let’s see about getting you a good match,” Ollivander said, approaching a now much warier Sakura with his tape measure, and letting it get to work while he went to the back and started looking at boxes.

“Try this one, Kaya wood and phoenix feather,” Ollivander said dubiously, he didn’t think this was the wand for her, but it was the only Eastern wood wand he had.

Sakura swished the wand the way she had seen Harry do it, and there was a faint spark at the tip, but nothing more.

“Hmm, so not the wood, or the core,” he muttered tapping his fingers on the counter as he looked up at the boxes again.

“Definitely not dragon heartstring,” he muttered, tapping boxes aside.

“Hmm, Cherry wood and Unicorn hair, try this one.”

Another swish and he nodded sharply.

“So, the wood is correct, but not quite there on the core,” he said, taking the wand back and putting the box aside.

“Perhaps…yes, a dual core might do it,” he murmured to himself, disappearing into the back of the shop once more, and appearing with two more boxes.

“Cherry wood, Unicorn hair and phoenix feather,” he offered her the wand, but that one didn’t do anything at all.

“Very well then, Cherry wood, Unicorn hair and fairy wings, eight inches, nice and flexible,” he said, handing her the second wand.

A trail of silvery sparkles followed the path of the wand as she swished it, and her face lit up in delight.

“Ah, excellent,” he smiled, putting the wand back into the box and wrapping it for her.

Once the wands were paid for, they stepped back out into the alley and found Touya waiting for them, two cages at his side. One held a beautiful white owl, and the other a little tawny.

“Here Harry, she’s for you, a birthday gift,” he said, passing the white owl to the boy.

“For me? Really? I…I never got a birthday present before, thank you,” Harry said in awe, taking the cage that was offered. His face fell a moment later.

“They won’t let me keep her,” he said sadly.

“If they’re really against it, she can share space with this little one, but she is yours Harry,” he assured him.

“Thank you,” he said again.

“Right, that’s all the school supplies sorted out, so if there is nothing further, we can head back to Surrey,” Minerva said.

“If I might just ask, what was all that with the wandmaker about, ‘he who must not be named’?” Yukito asked.

“Not here, if you wish I will tell you about it when we have returned to your home.”

“Yes, thank you,” Yukito said firmly.

/x/

Back at 6 Privet drive, Minerva sat down with a cup of tea, and thought about where to start.

“This isn’t something you will hear spoken of freely in the Wizarding world, but 10 years ago, the Wizarding world was at the height of a war, a dark lord who called himself Voldemort was waging war on muggleborns, muggles, half-bloods, and generally anyone who didn’t agree with his way of seeing things. On Halloween night 1981, he came to kill the Potters,” she told them.

“Why?” Harry asked in a tiny voice.

“There was a prophecy, I don’t know the wording, I’m not sure anyone knows all of it, but he had decided that you Mr Potter were a threat to him. He killed James and Lily Potter that night, but when he turned the killing curse upon you, it rebounded on its caster, and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since. You are the only person to have survived having the killing curse cast on you, and you escaped with nothing more than that scar to show for it. You became known as ‘the boy who lived’, you will hear that a lot in the Wizarding world I’m afraid, and as for him, his name is not spoken, he is referred to as ‘he who must not be named’. You were placed with the Dursleys in an effort to protect you from reprisal, or from those who would use your new _fame_ for their own gains, but I can assure you I will do everything I can in an effort to remove you from that situation.”

“Who placed him there?” Touya asked suspiciously.

“Albus Dumbledore,” she admitted.

“The headmaster of the school Harry and my little sister are now to be attending.”

“He is Mr Potter’s magical guardian, no one could deny his right to place Mr Potter where he thought best.”

Touya held back any further comment on that, he would wait and see if she kept her word to try to see the boy moved from that situation.

“Doesn’t seem like much of a guardian, leaving him in the situation he’s in,” Yukito muttered.

“Magical guardian isn’t exactly the same as guardian, it means he’s responsible for Mr Potter’s magical well-being and education, had there been any bouts of accidental magic that had drawn muggle attention, then he would have become involved.”

“But…what about when I turned my teacher’s hair blue, or ended up on the roof of the school when Dudley and his gang were chasing me, they drew attention, I got a locked in my cupboard for days with no food when that happened, and no-one came,” Harry protested.

Minerva’s lips pressed together even tighter, she suspected that Albus had been more aware than he claimed of what was going on, and had been interfering to prevent anyone else getting involved.

“Can magical guardianship be moved?” Touya asked mildly.

“Not to a muggle, a magical guardian has to be able to function in the magical world. That’s why he also takes magical guardianship of muggleborn students.”

Touya bit back the desire to swear, that would put Sakura under his guardianship too, but he didn’t feel it was time to correct her assumptions about him and Yukito yet. That did settle one thing in his mind, Kero was going to be going with Sakura to that blasted school, he wanted to know that if anything happened, he would be the first to know about it.

“Very well, is there anything more we need to know?” he asked instead.

“Here are the tickets for the Hogwarts Express, it leaves from King’s Cross station on the morning of September 1st, at 11am sharp. It goes from platform 9¾, which like Diagon Alley is hidden from muggle eyes. The pillar between platforms 9 and 10 is the entrance, you just have to walk straight at it, with intent to enter the platform, and it will allow you through. I’m sure if you watch closely enough, you will see others passing through that entry,” she told them, placing two tickets on the table.

“Thank you, and thank you for sparing the time today to gather the school supplies,” Touya said formally.

“You are quite welcome, Ms Kinomoto, Mr Potter, I will see you on September 1st,” she said briskly, getting up and quickly getting ready to leave.

Albus probably wouldn’t be pleased that she had told them about Voldemort, but he was just going to have to deal with it, she wasn’t keeping things from these people, she had the feeling they would be the best champions young Harry could have, even if they were muggle.

Harry sighed when she was gone, looking at the tickets on the table, his ticket to freedom. He didn’t want to risk one of the Dursley’s getting hold of it.

“Would it be alright if I left it here to keep it safe?” he asked hesitantly, nervously.

“Of course you can, we’ll take care of it for you. Come on, I’ll help you get your school things next door, I need to talk to them about making time each day so that you and Sakura can start studying ahead,” Touya said with a predatory smile. He was going to make sure they kept their hands off the boy at least, if he could.

/x/

For Harry, the next month was probably the happiest he could ever remember, thanks to the happy accident of his letter ending up next door with the Kinomoto family. For a couple of hours each day, he was out from under the Dursley’s eyes, and vicious tongues, he was allowed to study, and instead of making sure he didn’t do as well as Dudley, he was encouraged to do as well as he could, because there would be no school reports going to the Dursleys, and they always made sure he got at least one meal a day, so he was starting to lose the pinched thinness of his body and face.

He had his first friend in the cheerful Sakura, and a couple of older brother figures in Touya and Yukito, he had been a little startled to realize that Yukito wasn’t actually Sakura’s brother, but rather her brother’s boyfriend, but it didn’t bother him, and he made sure not to mention it to the Dursleys. Even Professor Kinomoto didn’t mind having him around so much, the kindly man apparently easily accepting the idea of witches and wizards, unlike the Dursley’s, who had apparently always known, and still acted like it was the height of freakishness.

The Dursleys had begrudgingly given him Dudley’s second bedroom, and even if it was a bit sparse and tatty, it was a million times better than his cupboard, and they even told Dudley off once for hitting him, because he had left a visible bruise.

The slight downside had been that when the Wizarding Child Services, and social services had come to inspect, they had seen no reason to remove him from the home, but he found himself not really caring much, it would only be for the summers from now on, and as long as the Kinomoto’s lived next door, he didn’t think they would dare do anything too outrageous to him.

All too soon, it was September 1st, and he found himself watching with Sakura as Touya and Yukito tried to fit the trunks into the boot of the family car, which the professor had left for them to take the children to the station, opting to take the train to the University where he was working last night instead. His beautiful white owl, which he had decided to name Hedwig, was in her cage, and the strange little winged cat that Sakura was taking with her was curled up in the hood of her jacket. ‘Kero’ had come from Japan with them according to Sakura, where he had belonged to a Japanese wizard.

Finally, Touya muttered a soft curse and sighed.

“This is not going to work,” he said, reaching into his pocket.

Harry couldn’t see what he did, but a moment later, there was a soft swirl of light, and the two trunks were half the size they had been.

“You…” Harry began, startled, but Yukito smiled and shushed him, winking cheerfully, and Harry nodded, understanding that what he had seen was a secret.

The two now reduced trunks were easily loaded into the car, and Hedwig’s cage went onto the back seat, between Harry and Sakura, and they were quickly on their way.


End file.
